Origami in the Garden at the Morton Arboretum through October 22, 2017

The Morton Arboretum prides itself on being a living museum and that’s a beautiful thing about visiting. It’s never exactly the same, with trees growing and changing throughout the season. Each visit is a different experience, not only because of the living things, but because they are often displaying new exhibits.

This summer is the Origami in the Garden exhibit. Origami is the Japanese art of paper folding. Being made from paper, it’s generally very small and delicate. Don’t expect that at the Morton Arboretum though.

Origami in the Garden is 25 displays of 40 origami-inspired sculptures scattered through the Morton Arboretum. The sculptures are very large and outdoors, so they’re exposed to the elements.

The exhibit was created by husband and wife team Kevin and Jennifer Box, using origami created by noted origami artists from around the world, including Tim Armijo, Te Jui Fu, Beth Johnson, Michael G. LaFosse, and Robert J. Lang. The metal sculptures are created using a special casting process developed by Kevin Box, ensuring that the delicate paper folds are visible in each sculpture. The exhibit debuting in 2014 at the Santa Fe Botanical Garden.

We had a chance to visit the Arboretum and check out the amazing Origami artwork recently. Of course, we brought our new friend. He loves the trees.

Sculptures include a variety of subjects.

Although many of the sculptures are white, there are some colorful pieces as well.

My personal favorite was Master Peace, which reaches 24 feet into the sky. Made up of 500 cranes stacked together, the sculpture sits on a reflective base, and was created to represent the Japanese tradition of folding 1,000 origami cranes for meditation and prayer.

Although most of the sculptures are meant only for you to look at, we found a particularly inviting one for sitting and enjoying the natural view.

To accompany the sculptures, daily hands-on origami activities are available in the Children’s Garden. Supplies and instruction are available to create your own works of origami art.

Another highlight of our visit (for me at least!) was finding some copies of my book, The Ultimate Kids’ Adventure Guide to Chicago, in The Arboretum Store’s book section. My as-yet-unnamed mascot posed with a copy.

Another perk of the Arboretum is that you can get some amazing photos there, and one of our favorite photos of the kids is at the Morton Arboretum. We recreate it during each visit and it’s fun to see the kids grow.

The exhibit opened in May and runs through October 22, 2017.

For photos of Origami in the Garden, search the hashtag #OrigamiTMA on Twitter or Instagram.